


Keep Asking (and maybe I'll answer)

by LeapAngstily



Series: December Footie Fanfic Giveaway [5]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Fluff, LITERALLY, M/M, Puppy Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 23:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2791112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeapAngstily/pseuds/LeapAngstily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephan has gotten into a weird little tradition since his injury. Mattia makes him work for his rewards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Asking (and maybe I'll answer)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my [December Footie Fanfic Giveaway](http://montosmadman.tumblr.com/post/104190423597). (Please do take a look if you're experiencing any acute fic needs.)

“If I score tonight, will you go out with me?”  
  
Stephan is not quite sure when it happened, but asking Mattia out has become a kind of a tradition for him before each game.  
  
He likes to think it gives him luck, although if that really was the case, he should have broken his goalless streak by now. A fact Mattia keeps reminding him about on a regular basis.  
  
“Ask me again when you actually do it.”  
  
First it had been  _”When I’m back to full fitness, will you go out with me?”_  Then it was  _”Once I’m back in the national team, you’ll go out with me, right?”_  Now he is stuck on wagering his next goal in the league – a goal that never comes, much to his frustration.  
  
Mattia always tells him to ask again, never agreeing to anything.  
  
His injury was healed by the spring and he made it back to the national team briefly before the World Cup, too, but still Mattia has kept brushing him off.  
  
Stephan never shows how much it bothers him – it is supposed to be a joke, after all – but the truth is, at some point he has started hoping Mattia would say “yes”, and that is the only reason he keeps asking, over and over and over again, no matter how many times he is turned down.  
  
“I’m being serious, you know?”  
  
Maybe Mattia only thinks of it as a stupid joke. Maybe Mattia would actually agree if he knew what it meant for Stephan. Or maybe he would tell him to stop asking, because Mattia is not gay and he would never go out with Stephan.  
  
That last option is the main reason why Stephan has not confronted Mattia yet.  
  
Mattia smiles at him – that playful, shy, quiet, beautiful smile that Stephan first fell in love with – and then he answers dryly, “So am I.”  
  
Done with their little tradition, they head out to the pitch together, their shoulders brushing each other as they climb the stairs out of the tunnel. It is always the same: Stephan asks, Mattia gives his non-answer, and then it is time to focus on the game.  
  
Except today is not the same, because Stephan finally scores.  
  
The feelings flooding through his body are overwhelming – the rush of excitement and delight that he had missed so much, craved for since he first came back from the injury.  
  
This is why Stephan plays. This is what Stephan is.  
  
People are hugging him: Jeremy, Jack, Daniele… Stephan catches Mattia’s eye over the pitch just as the stand-in captain ruffles his hair, and Mattia smiles at him. He does not come to hug Stephan, though, his focus immediately back on the ball as the game continues.  
  
Stephan is not sure if he has the courage to keep asking after this.  
  
The first half finishes with a score line of 1–1. Everyone is frustrated, because conceding right before the halftime is the worst thing a team could possibly do. Even Stephan’s earlier excitement over his goal is almost gone.  
  
“We’ll get them in the second half,” Mattia tells him quietly, a whisper right next to his ear, the warm breath on Stephan’s skin making shivers run down his back, “Just wait and see.”  
  
Fingers wrapped loosely around his, a thumb caressing Stephan’s palm gently, a reassuring touch that makes Stephan want to believe Mattia is right. They can still win this; they can make his goal count for something.  
  
The rest of the squad is already back in the dressing room, but Mattia pulls him to a stop right before they reach the door.  
  
“Close your eyes.”  
  
Refusing does not even cross Stephan’s mind. The moment his eyes are closed, he can feel Mattia’s soft lips pressed on the corner of his mouth – missing both Stephan’s lips and his cheek, like deliberately ambiguous.  
  
“It was a great goal,” Mattia tells him as he pulls away. Stephan can hear a smile in his words.  
  
“Is that a yes?” he asks as he opens his eyes reluctantly, meeting Mattia’s eyes shyly.  
  
“Do you want it to be?”  
  
Mattia slips into the full dressing room before Stephan can say anything more, but it does not matter, because they both know what Stephan’s answer would have been anyways.


End file.
